Ark. AG says execution system not functional

Speaking to the Arkansas Sheriff's Association in Fort Smith on Wednesday, McDaniel pointed to legal challenges and a shortage of drugs used in executions as problems with the death penalty and said it is time to discuss the punishment's future.

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By JEANNIE NUSSAssociated Press

Stuttgart Daily Leader - Stuttgart, AR

By JEANNIE NUSSAssociated Press

Posted Jul. 10, 2013 at 11:46 AM

By JEANNIE NUSSAssociated Press

Posted Jul. 10, 2013 at 11:46 AM

FORT SMITH, Ark.

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel says the current death penalty system is broken.

Speaking to the Arkansas Sheriff's Association in Fort Smith on Wednesday, McDaniel pointed to legal challenges and a shortage of drugs used in executions as problems with the death penalty and said it is time to discuss the punishment's future.

The attorney general says he continues to support the death penalty but said he has no reason to believe that any of the state's condemned prisoners will be executed while he is in office.

McDaniel asked Gov. Mike Beebe this year to schedule executions for seven death row inmates but the governor has indicated he has no immediate plans to do so.